Empty

I wanted this baby
to be the best I ever wrote
for the words to flow
and the earth to tremble with every keystroke
so even
angrier kids than me
across this dirty unfair world
would sit up
and take note
for the whole of Africa

I wanted her
to turn despair into hope
to glow like a cinder
too hot to hold
to go viral and radiate
a message of peace
out into the universe
driving light into its soul
a full moon of love
shining way beyond God's bedtime

But somehow her truth
is swallowed by the rains
the crickets fall silent
a stricken mother moans
and I'm already rinsing my hands--
another child
stillborn